December is a gift-giving season in many cultures and places around the world. Today’s seasonal blog post is about gifts that any childbirth educator might like to receive themselves, and some suggestions on where to make end of year gift donations to deserving nonprofit organizations that support families in important ways.

Three gifts for the childbirth educator

Pass this list on to the people in your life who are asking you what gifts you might want this holiday season.

1. Etsy is a remarkable place to find unique handmade teaching aids and props to use for both in person and virtual classes. Interesting and engaging teaching materials makes for a fun class, enhances learning for families and offers the childbirth educator a chance to liven up their lessons. Many of the products are handcrafted and sold by small business folks who appreciate the sale! Grabbing a gift certificate from the Etsy site lets the childbirth educator browse and select a product that brings them joy and fills a class need that they have. Honestly, half the fun of shopping on Etsy is the browsing part!  An Etsy gift card in any amount for your favorite perinatal educator can be purchased here.  

2. All kinds of people and families are having babies and it is important that the visual aids used in childbirth classes represent all the different people who are welcoming a baby. Skin color, body size, cultural preferences, family structure, different abilities and more can and should be represented in the images that childbirth educators use in classroom posters, slide decks and handouts.  The Educated Birth is a great place to find a wide variety of images that can be used for many purposes, from anatomy lessons, to positions to labor in and more.  Check out these products that can be purchased and immediately downloaded to use right away from The Educated Birth website.

3. A final consideration when giving a gift to a childbirth educator is the gift of self-care! Being a childbirth educator means a lot of time prepping for classes, teaching families and doing all the additional work outside the classroom meeting families’ educational needs. If the educator is self-employed, there is also the workload of running a small business. Any educator would appreciate some things that support celebrating themselves through some self-care activities such as a massage, spa day, tasty treats, car detailing, childcare while they go out for a nice meal or movie, and more. Any gift that lets the childbirth educator have some downtime is a win all around.

Year end giving that counts

Here are three ideas for donating to nonprofits that serve families through all kinds of circumstances. Making a monetary donation to any of them will go a long way toward helping them to continue to meet their organization’s mission to serve.

Global Health Media is a remarkable repository of videos for health care workers and families that showcase many aspects of birth, lactation, newborn caring and more. Their videos feature a diverse global population, and most importantly are available in nearly 40 different languages.They are simple and effective tools that can and should be used in any perinatal learning situation. Make your donation to Global Health Media here. Through the end of the year, any gift will be matched up to $20,000, doubling your monetary impact to this valuable organization.

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep is a primarily US based program that offers bereavement services to families who are experiencing a pregnancy loss, stillbirth or infant loss. Their program matches skilled and trained volunteer photographers with families so that their child can be remembered through tasteful and poignant photos that capture the love (and the grief) that is being experienced. Images are captured and edited to create beautiful keepsakes of their baby that can support them as they move into the future without the child that sis missing from their arms. Your donation will allow them to do more outreach and serve more families.  You can donate here.

Many communities have community based doula programs that serve marginalized and under-resourced families who would not be able to have the support of a birth or postpartum doula due to their current financial situations. Selecting a program local to you means that more families in your community can have a doula walk with them through their pregnancy, birth and early parenting journey. These social services non-profits often operate on a shoestring budget and try to compensate the program doulas with a fair wage. Your monetary donation will mean that a doula is earning money that is sustaining their own family and a growing family is receiving the support they need during a critical time. A quick internet search will help you identify a program local to your community.

This holiday and end of year season, you are invited to celebrate the childbirth educator in your life and support well-deserving programs that lift up growing families in many valuable ways.

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